Parkrun #21: Druridge Bay

What a relief to finally be typing the number of my parkrun in a blog post title again! The five weeks since my last one has felt like an eternity.

ANYWAY, down to business. Goals for today were simple:

1. Make it to a parkrun

2. Complete the parkrun without walking

3. And preferably in less than half an hour

4. And without hurting myself (especially the hip)

5. Run at a location I'd not visited before

6. Enjoy myself

Pleased to say I managed all of those. 🙂 To be fair, the time for goal #3 was set on the assumption I'd be doing Chopwell Wood rather than Druridge Bay, so that was easier to achieve on a flat course, but I'll take it. Oh, and my time in the end was 27:44.

Yes, the above photo is the only one I took, but hey, at least we get an idea of the weather (was driving hail at the time, but it stopped before the run started). I was on the drive home before I realised I'd forgotten to take any post-run photos, but to be honest, I'd have struggled to make it look good; the weather was just bleak.

Once again, I failed to arrive in enough time to warm up properly. 🤦 So, after missing the first half of the first-timers' talk, I had to clarify a few things:

Laps of the lake? Two.

Surface? Mostly gravel with some sections on mud and tree roots.

Tree roots?! 😬 How many? A couple of short sections per lap.

How muddy? A little bit through the first set of trees and very muddy on the far side of the lake.

Mercifully, those last two turned out to be gross exaggerations. I think I counted 3 small tree roots in total and the mud barely splashed my calves, let alone cover my shoes. These people have clearly never been orienteering through marsh. 😂

As for the course itself, it was about as featureless as you'd expect from a lakeside route. Very flat, a couple of very minor inclines and a couple of basic footbridges that didn't affect your pace. Don't get me wrong — it's nice enough and has a bit of birdlife to look at (when you're not running), but I suspect it's a lot nicer in summer than winter. I almost certainly will return, but not till better weather, as it's over half an hour each way in the car.

Next target: simply to get back to regular running. And regular parkruns. 💪